At its peak,Splitgatehit 200,000 concurrentplayers and hadsurpassed more than 15 million downloads in 2021.
It achieved a level of success that the studio could not have anticipated.
What isSplitgate?
‘Splitgate 2’ is a first-person shooter, but with portals!1047 Games
WithSplitgate 2,1047 Gamesis looking to experiment more deeply with new and existing modes rather than just tweaking the original.
Splitball is one of those experimental new modes, and is the prime example of that iterative approach.
What if the flag is neutral?
Should you be able to portal with the flag?
Should you not be able to?
We tried, letting you portal, but disabled certain portal walls.
We tried everything, and it just never worked, Proulx says.
The portals simply broke the flow of the mode.
Capture the Flag is such a classic mode.
You think ofUnreal Tournament,Halo, and thats one of my favorite modes ever, he says.
Splitgatehas to have something like that.
Theres no reason it cant.
Instead of flags, Splitball has players scoring points with balls instead.
Balls spawn periodically throughout the round, and each team can steal them from their opponents podiums.
InSplitgate 2, those points can be lost if the balls are stolen back.
A little bit of inspiration [as a]Top Gun Maverickfan is the dogfight, he says.
Offense and defense at the same time.
I was like, What if we actually put that into Capture the Flag?
And, immediately, it doesnt matter that you just scored.
I can take [the ball] back and portal back to my base.
After receiving early feedback in closed alpha testing the studio has already made drastic changes toSplitgate 2s gameplay.
We could either play it safe or push the boundaries.
The game subsequently hemorrhaged players, and thestudio laid offvirtually all of its remaining staff just weeks later.
In just a few monthsDauntless, which had been popular since its release in 2019,will shut down.
I was the level designer onSplitgateand a lot of the maps.
I didnt know what I was doing.
I didnt know how people [were] going to play and use this [wall].
In the end, Proulx admits that the team initially overthought and over-designed the game.
If theres a portal wall just because its cool, do it.
Like, it doesnt matter, and it doesnt take away from the experience.
With all the maps featured in this weekends open alpha, more portal walls have been added.
It shows some flexibility that we often dont see in online games these days.
It shouldnt be that crazy of a concept, right?
Were making a game for our customers and for our players, Proulx says.
I really have so much confidence in our post-launch content, he says.
Its not just going to be lots of seasons with new maps and guns.
Its going to be every week that there is new content.
But Proulx believes that now is a better time than ever.
Yet, Proulx questions if the market has actually changedthatmuch: Were still playingApex Legends.
Were still playingCall of Duty.Were still playingFortnite.
Were still playingValorant, right?
We still play these games because theyre fun, but we are looking for something new and different.
This shift can be seen happening as more fresh takes on classic shooters are starting to emerge.
Splitball is the perfect encapsulation of that philosophy.
And, I think this time were going to have what we need to ensure that they stick around.
The full game is due out later this year, including versions for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
